International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - March 14, 2007

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies asked for the floor under item of the agenda - the follow-up to the 1998 twentieth special session of the General Assembly for two linked reasons.

It offers an opportunity to point to action which we consider essential in the future if we are together to meet the objectives of item 5 (b) concerning the capacity of communities to provide for people living with HIV and AIDS in the context of drug abuse.

The process of biennial reporting by States on measure they have taken in response to the Political Declaration issued in 1998 has enabled all those interested, including our worldwide network of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to monitor the measures taken and offer suggestions at the national level on ways forward.

The Executive Director's report (E/CN.7/2007/2) gives a good overview of these reports, and also points to work ahead for many, if not all, States.

It is, however, worrying that there are still many States which have not prioritised the biennial reporting questionnaire, as the development of the analytical tools mentioned in the report should make a strong contribution to our collective ability to assess progress.

The International Federation's chief interest in the item stems, as we have said in the past, from the issues surrounding treatment and intervention.

This is because we see these issues as closely related to our own priority at global, national and local levels for HIV and AIDS and the reduction of the health and social consequences of drug abuse, including work against stigma.

On the latter point, we were pleased to see the Executive Director's report pointing to a steady increase in the number of responses, but overall the level of response is still much too low.

We therefore consider that the Executive Director's call for a recommitment to the Political Declaration, if accompanied by a renewed effort towards comprehensive reporting, would be a welcome achievement.

We also, however, believe that States should make a greater effort to form partnerships with civil society groups and their auxiliary partners, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, especially with regard to the vulnerabilities of youth and of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Many other parts of the UN system now incorporate the knowledge and strength of their Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in their work - in particular in fields related to disaster management and health emergencies.

To the extent that drug abuse is symptomatic of a health emergency, the same is true here.

I have the honour to be the leader of a working group on substance abuse created by the International Federation's Health Commission. Our terms of reference were generated in response to a document we mentioned in our statement to this Commission in 2006, known as the Rome Consensus.

That document was signed by 20 National Societies after a High Level Seminar in Rome at the end of 2005.

It will be a central document at a further conference to be held in Rome next week, where there will be detailed discussion among National Societies on ways to link government policy interests to the needs of communities, and in particular meet the needs of the most vulnerable in those communities.

After that conference, and with the benefit of attendance at this Commission, my working group will finalise its own report to International Federation governance.

The background to our work on substance abuse is our commitment to help meet threat to communities posed by the spread of diseases.

The approach of the International Federation to this is well-known, and has been described to this Commission and also to UNODC's other Commission dealing with crime prevention and criminal justice.

The approach has its legislative base in the Agenda for Humanitarian Action, adopted unanimously in December 2003 by the world's governments and Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, at the 28th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

The relevant paragraph specifically urges governments to take steps aimed at reducing risk-taking behaviour, including through supporting harm reduction efforts and by ensuring the availability of sterile injecting equipment.

Our experience is that such steps are necessary if there is to be real progress in the struggle against the damaging effects of narcotic drugs. Harm reduction also clearly aims at creating an environment in which the vulnerability of all people who use and abuse these dangerous substances is recognised and addressed as such.

We consider that such steps are an essential component in any strategy which tries to address the public health dimension of drug abuse. As is clear from the Executive Director's report, this is an issue with serious economic and social consequences for communities and livelihoods, and all strategies must be based on this understanding.

Different National Societies address the issues in different ways, for a variety of cultural, historical and other reasons.

The International Federation working group needs to grapple with those differences in assessing how best National Societies can contribute to collective efforts to reduce community risk from substance abuse.

One way forward was identified by the National Societies of the Asia-Pacific region at a conference held in Singapore in November 2006.

They acknowledged that the emergence of re-emergence of communicable diseases including HIV and AIDS poses a threat to communities throughout the region, and undertook to strengthen health and care programs through the development of new partnerships which would utilise the special capacity of National Societies as auxiliary partners to their governments.

This undertaking brings them close to the objectives illustrated in the Executive Director's report on community capacity to support people vulnerable to HIV/AIDS (E/CN.7/2007/11).

The International Federation is most impressed by the work of UNODC as the lead agency in the UN system for HIV and AIDS prevention and care among injecting drug users and in prisons and I will be discussing the way our objectives intersect when meeting the Executive Director and others during this Commission session.

We would like to see States commit themselves to a much more profound approach to the health and other consequences of substance abuse, utilising the resources of their Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as well as others in the non-governmental world.

In this respect, it is worth noting that because so many substance abuse programs are managed within a framework which attaches criminal penalties to that abuse, it is often difficult to find ways successfully to reach out to the people most vulnerable.

We would welcome a call by the Commission for reporting on links between governments (including local government) which discloses best-practice examples which might be of benefit to other governments.

One such, which we have mentioned in this Commission in past Sessions, is the Villa Maraini program managed under the auspices of the Italian Red Cross.

This program has the active support of the Italian Government and reaches out to a very wide range of people vulnerable to substance abuse and its consequences, including HIV and AIDS and issues surrounding stigmatization and marginalisation.

I will not detail its work today, except to say that it has an excellent website, in Italian and English, at www.villamaraini.it. It is well worth a visit.

Villa Maraini points to one of the directions available to National Societies as they work alongside their governments in a joint effort to make a real difference in this struggle.

It is fully consistent with what all National Societies endeavour in their own ways to do to engage peer groups and whole communities in effective programs.

Our work continues to be based on strong science as well as community experience.

We synthesised this several years ago in a booklet entitled "Spreading the Light of Science". The booklet, which is freely available to members of the Commission contains guidelines on harm reduction related to injecting drug use, outlining generic approaches National Societies can adapt to the realities of their countries.

It remains a central element in our endorsed policy approach, and my working group on substance abuse will not be looking to revise it, rather to consider the best ways of reporting on its value in 2008 when the world marks the tenth anniversary of the UN General Assembly Special Session.

We look forward to working closely with UNODC and member States of the Commission towards and during that year, and will use the experience in shaping our own approach for the period ahead and specifically within the framework of the International Federation's Global Agenda up to 2010.

These matters will, unfortunately, dominate international and national agendas for many years to come.

It is important that we address them together, and for that reason too it is our hope that effective conclusions about the value of partnerships will be able to come forward to our own International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which will be held in Geneva from 26 to 30 November 2007 and in which governments and National Societies participate on an equal basis.

Its theme is "Together for Humanity", and one of its key themes will be addressing the humanitarian challenges posed by communicable diseases.

Our hope is that your work during this historic 50th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs will bring fresh and effective ideas forward through governments to that Conference, and that they will match the energy and dedication of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

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